The present invention relates to a chilled reagent container and a nucleic acid analyzer.
In methods utilizing electrophoresis as used usually now, a cDNA fragment specimen is prepared in advance by a reverse transcription from a DNA fragment or an RNA specimen for determining a sequence, a dideoxy reaction by well known dideoxy method is brought about on the cDNA fragment specimen, and subsequently the electrophoresis is brought about to measure and analyze a pattern in segregation and expansion of a molecular weight. On the other hand, in recent years, a method wherein a plurality of the DNA fragments as the specimens are fixed to a substrate to determine in parallel information of sequences of the fragments is proposed. In Nature 2005, Vol. 437, pp. 376-380, fine grain as carrier medium for the DNA fragments is used, and PCR is performed on the fine grain. Subsequently, the fine grain with the DNA fragments amplified by the PCR is introduced onto a plate including a plurality of holes having diameters corresponding to a size of the fine grain to perform readout with a pyro-sequence method. In Science 2005, Vol. 309, pp. 1728-1732, the fine grain as carrier medium for the DNA fragments is used, and the PCR is performed on the fine grain. Subsequently, the fine grain is dispersed on a glass substrate and fixed thereto, and an enzyme reaction (ligation) is brought about on the glass substrate to introduce a base material with fluorescence dye into the fine grain so that the fluorescence is detected to obtain the information of sequences of the fragments.
As mentioned above, the method wherein the information of sequences of a number of the fragments is determined in parallel by fixing a number of the nucleic acid fragment specimens to the substrate of flat plate, has been developed and come into practical use.
A chemical reaction necessary for a nucleic acid analysis used in these systems is generally comprised of a number of steps using respective reagents different from each other, whereby liquid solutions including the respective reagents different from each other for the respective steps need to be supplied. Further, it is preferable for an amount of reagent necessary for the sequence reaction to be as small as possible. In these reactions, a temperature cycle between low and high temperatures needs to be repeated, and a long time period is necessary for the reaction. Further, since the detection is performed at each of the reactions with a fluorescent microscope, the analysis is continued generally during a period between 1 day to 1 week. Therefore, a mechanism for containing the reagents in chilled condition is necessary.
In many cases, the solution used for the sequence reaction includes the reagent being expensive and/or a DNA sample being precious, whereby it is preferable for the amount of the reagent to be small. Therefore, it is preferable that a chilled reagent container contains a number of reaction reagents and cleaning reagents of respective small volumes.